


drag me down

by respierra



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Ghosts, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 15:38:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2698184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respierra/pseuds/respierra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>all things return to the river.</p>
            </blockquote>





	drag me down

The transition from blinding lights and buzzing chaos to the silence is a numb, unnerving one, an eventful change that the sentimental part of his mind tells him should be significant. It’s isn't, really--not when Jaebum loads the few belongings he has into his parents’ car without a second thought, the half-hearted goodbyes from distant classmates fading to nothing in his head.

His father looks at him as he settles into his seat. It’s a questioning glance that isn’t unfamiliar, but he’s never seemed so old to Jaebum before. It makes something go sour in the back of his throat. Jaebum doesn’t say anything, only slots his belt into place and settles in. His mother hacks a wet cough that wasn't there before from the passenger seat, and for a moment, the lines etched in the older man’s face deepen even further. He turns to Jaebum’s mother, rubbing a thin hand against her shoulder as she shakes. Jaebum feels the burning sensation light up his insides once more, so he rests his head against the window, eyes falling shut as they drive across the city's towering bridge and out of Seoul.

 

* * *

 

It’s dank and cloudy for the duration of their trip, the scene above consisting of one flat sheet of grey for miles as they pass from an urban sprawl to the plains. Concrete blending into tall, rolling grasses, ash to fresh air. From the car, Jaebum watches their reflection in the water way alongside the road when he tires of the sky. He supposes it's more calm like this, endless skies and soil a better scenery than high rises that like to close in after awhile. His father was told as such with his knuckles white on the phone as the doctor dropped remedies left and right, non-committal and static-y from what Jaebum heard through the walls. The space would serve her well. Out here--from what he’s told--there’s enough of the stuff to become sick of it. He still doesn’t understand how any of it's supposed to save his mother.

He’s saved from thinking further of it as the small dirt path they’re on leads them to their new home.

The structure itself is simple and old, two stories painted neutral and bland and looking out to the sea of flowing grass. Inside, each floor has its own rickety platform along with sets of fogged over (mostly broken) windows. The moldy wood of the upstairs balcony whines under his weight, and he hears various things scatter when he peers into the holes of the porch. Jaebum drags a hand across his face to clear the sweat that's gathered there despite the breeze. It’s not their old place by far, but his father grimaces a smile all the same and leads his wife inside, who trembles in the wind as if it’ll whisk her away. Jaebum chooses not to trail behind.

* * *

 

He spends his days--the few he has left before university swallows the summer whole--by the water. 

The river is the only source of escape outside of running into the fields. It winds itself around the country, cutting through the green and the grey to run down south. It's long enough to seem endless when he stands by the edge to look, watching as the few waves there are lap into the dull horizon. The river is gentle, but to Jaebum monsters are too until they're disturbed. He stays wary. 

There he stays, though. A heaviness settles in his bones, pushing him away from his parents and farther from the house; a polarized magnet that won’t let him get close enough to touch. Instead, he shuffles further out to where the vegetation dips down into the murky water that flows quietly for miles in either direction. He can barely make out his own reflection, yet he shoves up the legs of his jeans and holds his breath all the same as he wades in. The liquid takes him easily, lukewarm and barely moving as he makes his way closer and closer towards the center. He goes out far enough that the vision of the house is blurred through the fog, and the weight inside him lessens a bit. 

Placing both hands on his hips, Jaebum straightens up, toes curling in the wet gravel of the riverbed. He peers out towards the rest of the water but can’t see more than a few yards due to the opaque cloud that engulfs him. He doesn’t even notice it get so thick until it begins to press upon him, compressing his lungs uncomfortably. He tuns back to the house, where it stands dejected and out of place. The humidity causes sweat to cling to and chafe his skin but Jaebum only plants his feet deeper into the pilant earth, pebbles and sediment digging into flesh. The image of his father that morning, standing in an empty kitchen and preparing tea with unsteady hands as his mother coughed in the next room, flashes before him. He remembers how oddly her spine curved as she hunched over in pain, her throat failing. The thought flickers once, twice, and its gone. He can’t find it in himself to start heading back.

He’s unsure how long he stands there, standing and staring. Nothing is around to cause any interest, not even the rare fish that graze him as he slowly sinks deeper in the soft ground. The beginnings of a question are starting to collect in his head as to why this is--the water is large enough to house a few organisms, for sure--when a chill shoots up his spine that snaps him out of his reverie. He feels, knows with a sickening certainty he's being watched but he doesn't know how.  

A splotch of a shadow flickers in the corner of his eye. Jaebum spins around quickly, giving himself something akin to whiplash from moving too fast, but the only person there is him, watching himself ripple in the water when he swears after his eyes were on the house.


End file.
